


it's no easy mission, holding on to how I picture you

by rawrimmapanda



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 07:50:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14807259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rawrimmapanda/pseuds/rawrimmapanda
Summary: Summer started off quietly, with Patty and Nik texting back and forth incessantly. Topics ranged from video game chirps to updates on summer training. Soon it was nearing the end of July and Patty sent Nik flight details, catching him off-guard. Nik realized he needed to respond somehow so he tried to play it cool.>Cool, I’ll see you when you land. Need to be picked up?He waited and saw the three little dots show up and a quick response.>What kind of fake boyfriend are you? ofc I need to be picked up.Nik rolled his eyes. The next message caught him off guard.>I miss you





	it's no easy mission, holding on to how I picture you

**Author's Note:**

> What it says on the tin. This is my first time writing these lovely boys so I hope everyone enjoys it!

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to bring him. Love ya sis!”

Nik hung up the phone and tossed it onto the table in front of him, cringing as it clattered a bit. He couldn’t believe that he told his sister that he was dating someone and that he’d bring him to a friends wedding. Now he had to find a friend that he could trust that wouldn’t blow the cover for him. 

As he sat there pondering, his phone lit up with a text from Patty. 

Nik’s eyes widened. He had his friend. Patty owed him for a few favors and would be the perfect person. No one would really question if him and Patty were together since they were usually attached at the hip. 

He grabbed his phone and swiped it open. Patty was just reaffirming that he was coming over that night for some PS4 and pizza that was assuredly not in the diet plans. 

Nik responded and let him know that he had a favor to ask. He got the ok fingers emoji as a response and left it to be. He made himself busy ordering pizza and tidying up the living room. Just because Patty lived with his mother didn’t mean Nik did so he was a bit cluttered. As he was putting stuff away he heard the door to his apartment open and Patty walked in. 

“Aww, you cleaned just for me!” 

Patty was smiling that sly smile and Nik couldn’t help but plaster on one of his signature grins. 

“Only the best for the best!” 

They grabbed a controller each and sat down on the oversized couch. They booted up the PS4 and noticed it needed to update. As they were starting to groan about the update, there was a knock on the door. The pizza had arrived and it give Nik another distraction. He didn’t know how to bring up the fact he hinted at his sister that he was dating. The first thing he had to do was come out to Patty and that was more than enough to scare a person. He had been in locker rooms his whole life, he wasn’t sure how it was going to go. 

As they were chowing down on pizza, waiting on the game to update, Patty looked up at Nik. 

“So what is this favor? Need me to beat someone’s ass or something?” 

Nik was mesmerized by the bits of pepperoni stuck in Patty’s beard. He shook his head quickly to try and refocus. He took a deep breath and figured that this was like committing to a hit. You just have to buckle up and brace for whatever happens next. 

“Well, I wanted to let you know that I was gay. And still have a favor to ask”  
Patty nodded, sticking his tongue out to grab the string of cheese that had gotten stuck on his chin. It was honestly disgusting. 

“So you need me to find you a date for something? I don’t know many gay guys, but I’m sure I could pull a few strings.”

Nik sighed. Patty was onto something, but again, he was committed. 

“I told my sister that I’m already dating someone. I was hoping that you’d be down to pretend to be my boyfriend for a wedding?”

Patty took another bite of his pizza. He seemed unbothered by all the news. 

“Sure. Do you think people will believe it?”

Nik was confident this time, unlike before. 

“We went to Toby’s wedding together. I’m sure this will be no different.”

Patty nodded and put his food down. He grabbed the controller and gestured at the tv. The update was done and they were ready to play. 

They fell into companionable bantering as the FIFA game continued on. Patty insisted he was going to win and Nik kept winning. Nik was convinced as the night went on that this was a good idea. He just had to buckle in for the ride. 

The night wore on and Patty was getting ready to leave. As he stood up, he cracked his back, and looked over at Nik. 

“Do you think we should start practicing? When is the wedding?” 

Nik had almost forgotten about the boyfriend thing, being caught up in the FIFA trash talk. 

“Not for a few months, like August. We can practice if you want though.”

Nik wasn’t sure what there was to practice. It wasn’t like they were going to be proving they were together by some sex-having competition. They were already companionable so there wasn’t much more to add. As Patty turned to leave, he grabbed Nik and pulled him into a half hug. 

“We’re going to kill this!” 

Nik rolled his eyes and shut the door behind him. 

A few days later, when they were in the locker room, Patty sat next to him and grabbed his hand. Nik tried to pull back, but Patty had a death grip going. He could feel hot air on his ear as Patty hissed at him. 

“Act normal”

Ah ha! This was the practicing that he was talking about.

No one on the team was paying attention to them. The locker room kept going on like normal. There were bigger fish to fry, like the last game of the season. Playoffs had everyone super focused on themselves. 

Copp looked at them and rolled his eyes. 

“Guys, we have a repeat of Scheif and Troubs”

Nik couldn’t help but blush. He knew the stories about those two so he wasn’t sure why he thought that the locker room would hate him. Plus, no one dares utter a bad word about a teammate with big Buff around. 

Nik and Patty dropped hands and finished getting ready. 

The game was intense and the boys pulled out a win. Afterwards the team decided to head out to celebrate being in the playoffs and the end of the season. Spearheaded by Helle and Lowry, Nik found himself drunker than they expected. Nik wasn’t sure if the lines were blurring between practice and just how handsy they normally were, but Patty didn’t want to leave his side all night and he kept touching him. The longer the night went on and the more Nik drank, the more his thoughts started to wander. Finally, Nik pulled away to use the bathroom. As he was leaving the bathroom, he ran straight into Patty walking in. It was like hitting a wall of pure muscle. Nik felt himself relax against him and a warm feeling spread through his body. This feeling was too comfortable, like slipping into warm pjs after a shower. He shuddered and wrote it off as the drinks coursing through his body. As he stepped away to go around Patty, he felt him reach around and pull him in to hold him up. 

“Let’s get you home” Patty whispered in Nik’s ear. Nik desperately wanted him to come home with him. The size difference between the two was noticeable when they were close like this and all Nik wanted was for Patty to pick him up and hold him against a wall as he kissed him. 

Nik nodded at Patty and let himself get pulled back into the crowd. Patty called for a cab and poured Nik into the backseat with him. When they got back to his apartment, Patty assisted Nik with getting up the stairs and into his apartment. It was a blessing that Patty had his own key to the apartment so there was no fumbling around to get the door open. As they stumbled across the threshold, Patty pushed Nik towards the door of his bedroom. It took all of Nik’s remaining humility to not beg Patty to stay. Patty made him drink a couple glasses of water and then put him in the bed. As he was leaving, Patty turned and smiled at Nik, shutting the lights off as he went through the apartment. 

When he woke up, the sun was shining in through the blinds. He had the foresight to close those before leaving last night so he wasn’t rudely woken up by the son. Instead it was the incessant need to use the bathroom that got him. As he rolled out of bed, he tasted something sour in his mouth, deciding it was from last night, he opted to brush his teeth after using the bathroom. As he walked back into his room from the en suite, he grabbed his phone off the charger. He didn’t remember putting it on the charger but he vaguely remembered who brought him home. Patty must have put the phone on the charger and gotten him in bed. He lost track of how much he drank last night and vowed to not repeat that act until this fake dating situation was miles in the rearview mirror. Plus he had to focus on the playoffs and wouldn’t have time to party. 

***  
The playoffs came and went, with the team dropping four in a row in the conference finals. Nik learned a new word along the way, as he suffered from the malaise a couple of times during the playoffs. 

On locker cleanout day, while the guys were discussing the injuries they all had, Patty came up to him. 

“Practice more this summer, yeah?”

Nik nodded tentatively, knowing that the wedding was coming up sooner than expected. The season had ended quickly and he had put it to the back of his mind during the playoffs. 

As he cleared his throat to respond, he felt Patty clap down on his shoulder. 

“I’ll text you later. We need to get details.” 

Nik nodded again, feeling like a bobblehead. With that, Patty was off to pester some of the other guys on the team, trying to figure out what everyone was doing for the summer. Over the sounds of the locker room, he heard Patty tell Scheif that they were going to go to a wedding together. Nik didn’t hear the response, but saw Scheif smile and pull Patty into a hug. Nik wasn’t sure what the hug was for. He realized he was staring and quickly looked back down at his gear in his bag. He fiddled around with a roll of tape still sitting in his stall. He tossed it into his bag and zipped it shut, hearing his and Patty’s name being called for media next. 

The questions were pretty simple ones asked of any player, but Nik took great pleasure in knowing that the goat beard was going away later in the week. He was happy to hear that Patty wanted to stay with the team long term, but wasn’t sure if this dating situation was going to ruin their friendship or not. So far it seemed like Patty was pulling more of the weight than Nik expected. 

***

Summer started off quietly, with Patty and Nik texting back and forth incessantly. Topics ranged from video game chirps to updates on summer training. Soon it was nearing the end of July and Patty sent Nik flight details, catching him off-guard. Nik realized he needed to respond somehow so he tried to play it cool. 

>Cool, I’ll see you when you land. Need to be picked up?

He waited and saw the three little dots show up and a quick response. 

>What kind of fake boyfriend are you? ofc I need to be picked up. 

Nik rolled his eyes. The next message caught him off guard. 

>I miss you

He missed Patty as well, but he always missed him. The dry humour had rubbed off on Nik and he found it endearing. To be quite fair, he found everything endearing, including the goat beard. Not to say he wasn’t happy that it was gone, it was just something that became a part of Patty and Nik loved pretty much everything about him. 

The days leading up to Patty arriving seemed to drag on. Nik wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he knew he would have to figure something out. 

As he pulled up to the airport, he found a parking spot and went inside to try and find what luggage carousel Patty would need to be at. Nik figured that was the best place to try and pick him up. As Nik was looking around for a place to sit that wouldn’t look suspicious, he heard Patty yell at him. 

“Nikky!” 

Nik looked up and Patty broke into a near run, grabbing him in a half hug when he got to him. Nik allowed himself to be pulled in and all he could think was how good Patty smelled for being on a plane from Finland. 

“Alright dude, you can let me go. I know you missed me, but damn.” Nik grinned, knowing that Patty would take the bait. 

“You missed me too! Your snaps tell the whole story.” 

Nik blushed at that, remembering how often he would snap him. They got used to living in each others pockets during the season that when it was time for them to be apart, they didn’t know how to handle it. Nik wasn’t complaining, but it did make his crush even harder to conceal. 

They headed back to the car and Patty chirped him the whole time, only stopping when he had to put his stuff in the trunk of the car. Nik drove them back to his house where his sister was waiting. He didn’t expect her to stay up this late. When they got out of the car, her eyes widened. 

“Mom owes me money.” She made sure to say it in English so that Patty could understand it. Nik was incredulous at the whole prospect of them betting on his lack of a love life. When they finally got inside and in Nik’s room, Patty looked and saw the cot that Nik had gotten out for him to sleep on. 

“I can always take the cot. You’re the guest so you can have the bed.”

Patty shook his head. 

“We can share.”

Nik thought he was going to die. He was pretty convinced that this would be the end of him. Pretending Patty was his boyfriend was one thing. Sharing a bed? That was a whole new beast he didn’t expect to encounter. 

Patty sat down on the bed, tossing his suitcase next to him. He rummaged through it, pulling out a pair of old sweatpants. He slid out of his pants and tossed them on, leaving his t-shirt on. 

“I am exhausted and it’s late. Let’s get some sleep.” 

Patty patted the bed next to him and who was Nik to deny. It was getting pretty late and if it got to be too much, he could always escape to the cot. Nik slid into his old basketball shorts and climbed into bed. 

To say he got a good night’s sleep would be a giant lie. He slept like hell and when he finally got deeply asleep, he dreamt that Patty had wrapped his arms around him. When he woke up, he realized it wasn’t a dream and that Patty had done that, spooning him just like he had dreamed so many times before. As he was waking up, enjoying that freshly woken up haze, he couldn’t help but to settle back into his arms. As he did that, Patty started to wake up and Nik quickly moved out of his arms. Patty grinned and leaned back. 

“Sorry, I get clingy when I sleep.”

Nik laughed. Clingy didn’t begin to explain the spider hold that he had on him. 

Since the wedding wasn’t until the next day, Nik figured they could go sightseeing a bit. He let Patty get up and get his coffee, listening to him chirp him about his taste in coffee. It wasn’t his fault that he needed creamer to get rid of the bitterness. Some things in life couldn’t be helped. 

After they had breakfast, Nik slipped away to his bathroom to finish getting ready. He let Patty get ready in the other bathroom off his bedroom. He figured that after the spider cling moment that morning it made sense for him to give some space. When he got back to his room he saw that Patty had changed into a pair of jean shorts with some holes in them and a black t-shirt. Nik couldn’t help but stare. 

“I know I look good.” 

Nik shook his head, grinning that sly smile of his. 

“Let’s get going before it gets too late for lunch.” 

***

They went and saw the sights, Nik narrating all the places that he remembered from growing up. He told stories of his childhood before he left and focused on hockey. Patty nodded along the whole time, chirping him here and there. The day went by super fast and they got home for dinner with his parents. They smiled knowingly when the two walked in, slightly sunburnt. They quickly washed up and sat across from each other during dinner. While they were eating and recapping the day with Nik’s parents, Patty hooked his leg around Nik’s under the table. After dinner, the two went back to Nik’s room, with his sister wolf whistling as they left together. When they were walking away, Nik reached out and grabbed Patty’s hand. They quickly made it up the stairs and collapsed on the bed. Patty reached over and grabbed a controller. The two quickly devolved into a fit of chirping each other and playing FIFA. 

As they were playing, Nik couldn’t help but lean into Patty’s side, feeling the warmth radiating off him. He figured at this moment, if he died, he’d die a happy man. 

Bedtime rolled around and they repeated the same process from the night before, this time just making sure to set out their suits for the next day. Both went with a traditional navy suit and wore matching ties. 

The next morning when they woke up, they weren’t spooning like the day before. Patty had rolled over to the other side of the bed, something Nik was grateful for. It was already going to be a long day. 

They started to get ready in the bedroom together, helping each other straighten ties and double checking that belts matched shoes. As they were getting ready to leave the room, Patty grabbed Nik’s arm and had an alarmed look on his face. 

“We should practice kissing.”

Nik gulped. He didn’t think that would be something that would come up. He nodded and Patty leaned over, kissing him softly on the lips. It was sweet how Patty was being gentle. It was also not how Nik imagined their first kiss would go. They pulled apart and Nik looked up at Patty. 

“I didn’t think that it would be a thing we needed to practice.”

Patty laughed at Nik’s comments. 

“This is why you have me. For practice.”

Nik rolled his eyes and motioned towards the door. They had to get going if they were going to make it to the wedding in time. 

The wedding ceremony was nice and short. The couple said their “I do’s” and everyone hurried to the hotel the reception was being held at. When they got there, Nik found his spot at the table. It was near the buffet so he couldn’t complain too much. They had a great view of the dancefloor. As they started to sit down, some old friends and distant family started to swing by the table to say hello and congratulate him on a good season. Nik introduced Patty to them as his boyfriend. A few of his closer family members raised their eyebrows at news, but didn’t say anything. A couple did nod knowingly, which was a bit concerning. Nik was firmly convinced that his family was way too invested in his love life. 

Dinner was served and the toasts were made. After the bride got her traditional dances out of the way, Nik glanced over at Patty. 

“Let’s dance!” 

Patty had grabbed Nik’s hand and started pulling him towards the dance floor, despite him protesting. The song was a canned pop song that was slower in tempo. Patty pulled Nik close to him and slid his hands down around Nik’s waist. His grip was gentle, but still firm. Nik wrapped his arms around Patty’s neck and started to sway to the music. As he looked up, he saw Patty looking down at him. Nik couldn’t help the magnetic pull he felt and he quickly surged up and kissed Patty. This time it seemed like it meant something. 

This time something went wrong and Patty pulled away. He quickly looked down at his shoes and muttered something about having to go to the bathroom. Nik didn’t want to chase after him so he let him go. 

When Patty returned, he let Nik know that he needed to go home and had booked a late flight out. Nik bid his farewells and got Patty back to the house to pack his things. He gave him a ride to the airport, wondering the whole time where things went wrong. Patty quickly left Nik behind, waving once after promising that he’d text when he landed and got home. 

A few hours later Nik got a snap of Patty in his car captioned with “home”. That was the last he heard from Patty for two weeks. 

Nik was aware that nothing had happened to Patty since he was still posting to his snap story and on instagram. It just hurt that his best friend wasn’t talking to him. In hindsight, that makes it easier for figuring out a way to tell his family that they weren’t together. After a few days of pondering where things went wrong, Nik remembered the kiss at the wedding. It felt too real and was starting to weigh on Nik. 

Eventually he cracked and he asked Armia for Patty’s address and got a flight to Finland. He drove himself to the airport, figuring he could leave his car in overnight parking and hopped on his flight. When he landed, he rented a car, something sporty that Patty would enjoy, and took off towards his destination. If it wasn’t for Google Maps, Nik would be super lost, but he had hooked his phone up to the system in the car and was rocking along. 

Eventually he got there and it was mid afternoon. As he was pulling up, he could see Patty out in the yard. He parked the car on the street, praying street parking was a thing here, and got out. He started to walk across the yard to where Patty was hanging out. 

“Yo. You ghosted me!” 

Nik yelled a little louder than he planned to, but he didn’t realize how angry he was at Patty until that moment. 

Patty looked up, smiling when he saw Nik. 

“I couldn’t do it. I had to go. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” 

Nik was confused. What did he mean by not being able to do it. Patty was the one who had pushed a lot of the practicing. Patty kept going on. 

“I just didn’t want it to end and I know you probably hate me now, but I love you so much and pretending was killing me.”

Nik’s jaw dropped. He quickly snapped it shut, and walked up to Patty. He looked him in the eyes and then wrapped his arms around Patty’s head, pulling him down to land a kiss. Patty was shocked at first, pulling back, then he enveloped Nik and pulled him in for a deeper kiss. 

“You’re going to be the death of me, I swear.” Nik muttered between kisses. 

Patty stopped and looked at him. 

“This time is for real. No faking.” 

Nik grinned and pulled him in again. He had no return flight and they spent the rest of the day with each other, getting to know each other all over again. This time, it was for real.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, kudos, and feedback are always welcomed!  
> Title is from By and Down The River by A Perfect Circle  
>    
> [check out my tumblr](https://scandella.tumblr.com/)


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